KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 — Bursa Malaysia were mixed but investors’ over-cautiousness over Wall Street's soft sentiment after US biggest jobless claims surge outweighed a stimulus package relief.
At 9.15am, the benchmark FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) slipped 3.52 points to 1,632.19 compared with 1,635.71 at yesterday’s close.
The index opened 1.56 points higher at 1,637.27.
On the broader market, gainers pipped losers 281 to 251, while 319 counters were unchanged, 1,257 untraded and 24 others suspended.
Total volume stood at 658 million units worth RM354.29 million.
President-elect Joe Biden is to unveil a 1.9 trillion dollar coronavirus plan in a bid to stem Covid-19 uptick and steady the US economy.
However, the US stock markets reacted negatively after a Labour Department report showed initial jobless claims jumped by 181,00 -- their highest level in over four months last week despite investors viewing the bearish data as positive for the markets as it could put further pressure on lawmakers to approve more stimulus.
At close, the Dow Jones dropped 0.22 per cent, Nasdaq was 0.12 per cent lower and S&P declined 0.38 per cent.
Malacca Securities said tracking the negative sentiment on Wall Street, coupled with the pullback in the FBM KLCI yesterday, it expects trading tone on the local front to further consolidate.
"Also, the overheated rally in the technology stocks may take a breather, with traders digesting their gains over the next few days.
"Given some of the essential sectors are still operating under the Movement Control Order 2.0, companies shall be able to register some earnings at least for this quarter," it said in a note today.
Traders may also rotate their funds into furniture-related stocks, on the back of their earnings certainty in the February reporting season.
Meanwhile, the research house expects demand for the construction, building materials and oil and gas sectors to improve.
It said the oil and gas counters are likely to trade slightly higher today as the sector might benefit from firmer crude oil prices, currently trading above US$56 per barrel.
Among heavyweights, the banking counters were in the red after yesterday's rally with Maybank retreating nine sen to RM8.26, Public Bank losing 16 sen to RM21.54 and CIMB dropping five sen to RM4.09.
Press Metal was lower by 11 sen at RM8.56 and Hartelega depreciated 10 sen to RM12.20.
Of the actives, XOX and Iris down half-a-sen to 10.5 sen and 41 sen, respectively.
GPA edged up one sen to 12 sen and JCY International was 5.5 sen weaker at 53 sen.
On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 16.37 points to 11,733.05, the FBMT 100 Index eased 23.10 points to 11,465.51, while the FBM Emas Shariah Index gained 11.49 points to 13,227.06.
The FBM 70 lost 23.61 points to 14,815.89 and the FBM ACE was 32.24 points better at 10.792.31.
Sector-wise, the Financial Services Index dipped 98.49 points to 15,078.12, the Industrial Products and Services Index inched down 0.30 of-a-points to 178.41, the Plantation Index rose 0.98 of-a-points to 7,454.38 and the Healthcare Index was 3.93 points higher at 3,623.08. — Bernama
